When Wong Sing Lam was working for Singapore Airlines (SIA) in 1980, he helped the company computerise its air cargo system. With his extensive experience and industry know-how, Wong decided to leave SIA. He set up IPACS in 1983 to focus on developing software for the freight and transport industry. This eventually became IPACS e-Solutions, an important part of today's IPACS group of companies.
Headquartered in Singapore and employing over 80 professionals, IPACS e-Solutions has become a leading IT solutions provider catering to the transportation & logistics industry with a fully-integrated solution suite for supply chain management.
In 1996, IPACS teamed up with leading database vendor, Oracle, under the Infocomm Local Industry Upgrading Program (iLIUP) by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. "Oracle took a long term view and supported us by providing product and training at a very special rate." said Wong Sing Lam, CEO of IPACS. "They also helped us jumpstart the complex process of application development by granting free download of their databases, application servers software, tools, etc."
The partnership also resulted in IPACS's Logistics/2000 solution running on Oracle's Open Systems technology. With every copy of the software that IPACS sold, it sold an Oracle software licence along with it. The partnership worked so well that in 1999 Oracle awarded IPACS its "iLIUP Partner of the Year" award.
Two years later, IPACS clinched the award again for their success in reaching out to other companies via the "iLIUP effect". "We gained credibility in the eyes of potential local customers just by being a part of iLIUP," said Wong. "Based on that confidence, many companies were keen to adopt the solutions that we were proposing while taking advantage of government schemes like the Local Enterprise Computerisation Programme (LECP)."
In 2003, IPACS began talking to Sun Microsystems about creating a new logistics solution that would meet the more sophisticated needs of first-tier logistics operators. They started collaborating on a solution based on Sun's Java framework. In 2004, IPACS strengthened the relationship with Sun Microsystems under IDA's Overseas Development Programme (ODP), which focuses on helping local companies break into the Greater China market, an objective that IPACS shared. IPACS also decided that the best way forward was to do the application development in China with its very own software development centre.
"When a request for technical assistance is made to a large company, it usually goes through a rigorous justification process," said Wong. "ODP helped us avoid that kind of delay and smoothed the way for fast and effective cooperation." As a privileged partner, IPACS often received immediate assistance and support to its software development problems.
The presence of a local ODP manager, based in Beijing, not only provided a liaison between Sun Microsystems China and IPACS's development centre, but also helped broker a sense of ownership for both partners that would otherwise have been difficult to sustain. According to Wong, the influence of the ODP manager is one of the key ingredients to the success of the ODP programme.
After three years in the making, IPACS's Advanced Logistics Solution (ALS) has passed through a series of beta tests at selected China customer sites and became a stable product in March 2006.
The first customer outside China is a company in Japan that has bought 100 user licences. "We are very grateful for the help in creating a world-class product with Sun's commitment," said Wong. "Moving forward, we are keen to explore the kind of marketing mileage that our partnership can create."
Wong is happy to share his views on what makes a good partnership: "Don't join a programme for the sake of joining. Be clear about your objectives and those of the potential partner. Make sure there is a good match of objectives and priorities. Map out the respective needs and obligations clearly; proceeding on vague assumptions is the quickest way to weak execution and limited success."